The Charge

Houston, we have a problem.

Opening Statement

In 1970, the world was glued to the travails facing a trio of astronauts on
the American moon expedition Apollo 13. As they faced near-certain doom, it was
only the combined ingenuity of the NASA control team and the astronauts
themselves that averted one of the nation's biggest disasters in space. Ten
years ago, Ron Howard and Tom Hanks brought the story of astronauts Jim Lovell,
Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise and their harrowing seven days in space to the big
screen. Now, a special two-disc anniversary edition hits the DVD market. Are you
ready for liftoff?

Facts of the Case

The Apollo 13 mission is to be Jim Lovell's (Hanks, Saving Private Ryan) chance to
finally walk on the moon. When the NASA big shots give him the clearance to
embark with Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise, Ransom) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton, Twister) on a trip to the moon, he has
seemingly attained his longtime goal.

Hiccups face the mission early, however, when Mattingly is prevented from
taking off because of a medical concern. At the last minute, backup Jack Swigert
(Kevin Bacon, Wild Things) steps in.
Now that the crew has been resolved, it is time for the trio to sojourn into the
great beyond.

As Houston control closely monitors, under the auspices of flight director
Gene Kranz (Ed Harris, The Rock), Apollo
13 launches. However, after a few routine checks, an explosion rocks the
spacecraft. Suddenly, oxygen is venting into space, engines are damaged, and
control is lost.

After a moment of stunned silence, the Houston crew is forced to reconfigure
the mission; instead of landing on the moon, the sole objective is to return
Lovell, Swigert, and Haise back to Earth safely. With the nation suddenly
captive over the fate of these three men, it will take the combined efforts of a
bunch of super-smart NASA guys with thick black plastic glasses and three brave,
weightless men who pee in bags to sidestep a national tragedy.

The Evidence

Apollo 13 is a great movie. It succeeds not just because it does one
thing well, but because a confluence of effective themes come together. Under
the astute direction of Ron Howard, Apollo 13 became a space adventure
more exciting and patriotic than such overproduced dreck as Armageddon—and here's the kicker:
It's all true!

That's the foremost reason the movie works: the naturally thrilling source
material it draws on. All this stuff took place, and all the seemingly
insurmountable problems facing NASA and the crew propel the suspense forward.
Who knew problem solving could be so fun? And that's what drives Apollo
13: the unending supply of problems. It's literally one after the other for
the doomed mission, and the forced resourcefulness all the NASA smartasses have
to drum up makes for compelling stuff.

Which is where Howard's skillful direction comes in. He makes a couple of
decisions in directing this film that really pay off. One, he intermingles bits
of expository layman-speak with the technical jargon the scientists rattle off,
to ground the audience and let them know what the heck is going on. His primary
tool for this is the inclusion of newscasts, which adds realism to the film and
its setting, as well as oft-needed clarification. Two, as he notes in his
commentary track, Howard made the conscious decision to give equal time to the
boys in control. And in my opinion, this is where the most compelling parts of
the film lie. Anchored by a rock-solid performance by Ed Harris, the NASA
storyline bristles with electricity as everyone is constantly running around,
drawing on their chalkboards, doing arithmetic by hand, smoking, gaping,
uttering profound phrases ("With all due respect, sir, I believe this will
be our finest hour!"), having little doomsday conferences in the corner,
smoking, sweating, and talking to Clint Howard.

Apollo 13 boasts a terrific cast. Hanks, as usual, is great, but
Paxton and Bacon are just as good as his pod-mates. On the ground, Sinise is
only outshone by Harris in NASA control. Bonus points go to Kathleen Quinlan as
Jim Lovell's wife, Marilyn, who mixes both strength and gloom in the face of the
impending tragedy.

Finally, for a movie that runs 20 minutes north of two hours, Apollo
13 zooms by. The crap hits the fan for Lovell and company at about the
forty-minute mark, and from then on the movie does not let up; it is one of the
brisker 140 minutes to be had in front of your television.

This two-disc, tenth-anniversary edition offers two versions of the movie.
Disc one features the theatrical version, in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Disc two includes the IMAX Experience version, which runs
shorter (116 minutes, almost 30 minutes shorter than the theatrical, with much
of the trimming happening in the beginning of the film); this version is
presented in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen and comes with both the Dolby Digital
5.1 and a DTS 5.1 mix.

Both transfers look fantastic. Details are sharp and detailed (almost too
sharp; some of the CGI used for the launch scenes now looks too CGI) and
colors are strong. The sound for both versions is aggressive as well, but DTS
aficionados, of which I am one, will likely gravitate toward the latter.
Discrete surround channels are pushed, and the bass booms with rocket scenes.
James Horner's great score has never sounded better. While I would certainly
recommend the theatrical version for those who have never seen the movie, the
IMAX experience offers a leaner and meaner go-round with the Apollo 13 crew, and
this will definitely be the version I pop into my DVD player from now on.

Surprisingly, the weakest part of the set is the bonus material. The stuff
Universal included is certainly not bad, but compared to the superb technical
presentation, it leaves a bit to be desired. Basically, the extras can be
divided into two categories: featurettes and commentary tracks.

The featurettes are "Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13,"
"Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond," and "Lucky 13: The
Astronauts' Story." These three pieces are all well done and robust enough,
but my main complaint is that they're fairly redundant. For Apollo 13
completists, it may be nice to have the same story told multiple times, but
coupled with the film itself, the information is repetitive. "Conquering
Space"—my favorite—takes more of an exhaustive look at the
United States space program.

The best extra of the set is found in the commentary category, which
features tracks from Ron Howard and Jim and Marilyn Lovell. Howard gives an
insightful and substantial commentary, but it the Lovells' ruminations that
strike gold. With Jim Lovell, you're getting the scoop straight from the man
himself, and his encyclopedic knowledge about the event and the technical
background makes a fantastic complement to the film. While Marilyn is certainly
the more tight-lipped of the two, when she does speak it's usually moving; at
one point she breaks down when watching a scene from the film.

Closing Statement

A sharp, well-made film, Apollo 13 receives a very good two-disc
treatment. Apollo 13: 10th Anniversary Widecreen Edition combines
stunning audio and visual work with a handful of rewarding features. The IMAX
experience version is an excellent addition.